The head of the Lebanese Journalists Union said on Tuesday that there was evidence to prove that Israel was behind the abduction of four Iranian diplomats in Lebanon in 1982, reported the official Iranian news agency, IRNA.

Mohammad Ba'lbaki, speaking to IRNA on the occasion of the 19th anniversary of the kidnapping of the Iranian nationals in Lebanon, condemned the handover of the abducted Iranian diplomats to the Israeli government and stressed that “imprisonment of the Iranian diplomats by Israel is against international laws and regulations.”

Four Iranian diplomats were kidnapped on July 4, 1982 by pro-Israeli Christian militiamen at a checkpoint on the northern outskirts of Beirut in 1982, when Israeli forces had the Lebanese capital under siege.

By keeping the Iranian nationals in prison in Israel, “the Zionist regime is trying to exert pressure on the Islamic Republic of Iran for its support for the Lebanese people and the resistance movement of the Lebanese nation,” he said.

According to the agency, Israel and Christian militia sources have said the diplomats are dead, but Tehran says it has information that they are alive - Albawaba.com